Photo: lars_o_saeltzer / Instagram
Fans of classic 1960s European sports cars hardly need an introduction to the legendary Volvo P1800 series. After all, “The Saint” took care of that, while tales of its iconic reliability dwarf even the coolest Mercedes-Benz stories...
Produced between 1961 and 1973, Volvo’s P1800 could have gone down in history as a tame entry for the classic grand touring age. Sure, it had very cool styling and even played with conventions towards its final years of production, when it turned from a traditional coupe into a shooting brake.
But Roger Moore’s “The Saint” then made sure it became a contemporary pop culture icon even during its lifetime, while a little later, its legend was also sanctioned by Irv Gordon’s incredible mileage record. Thus, with so many revivals popping up across the automotive sector, we should be surprised that Cyan Racing is the only one taking diligent care of the P1800’s reputation at an OEM level.
Luckily, if the automaker is preoccupied with other stuff, there’s always the chance a virtual artist will take over the duty of reinventing such hero nameplates. As such, the pixel master behind the virtual Larson Design brand (aka lars_o_saeltzer on social media) has taken it upon himself to offer a successor for the Volvo P1800.
It’s a stunning retro-futuristic interpretation based on the original Coupe version (fans are rooting for a P1800ES Shooting Brake reinvention coming next!) and the CGI expert thinks it could bode well for either Volvo or its high-end Polestar brand. As such, we could easily imagine the modern P1800 successor – if ever real – would probably make use of a sustainable powertrain.
If not a fully electric one, perhaps at least a plug-in hybrid variant would do the trick. Although, in this crazed automotive world, it wouldn’t be surprising for Volvo or Polestar to come up with a crossover/SUV/truck reinterpretation rather than a traditional passenger car. After all, Ford did the same with the Maverick nameplate and the success is already palpable.
But Roger Moore’s “The Saint” then made sure it became a contemporary pop culture icon even during its lifetime, while a little later, its legend was also sanctioned by Irv Gordon’s incredible mileage record. Thus, with so many revivals popping up across the automotive sector, we should be surprised that Cyan Racing is the only one taking diligent care of the P1800’s reputation at an OEM level.
Luckily, if the automaker is preoccupied with other stuff, there’s always the chance a virtual artist will take over the duty of reinventing such hero nameplates. As such, the pixel master behind the virtual Larson Design brand (aka lars_o_saeltzer on social media) has taken it upon himself to offer a successor for the Volvo P1800.
It’s a stunning retro-futuristic interpretation based on the original Coupe version (fans are rooting for a P1800ES Shooting Brake reinvention coming next!) and the CGI expert thinks it could bode well for either Volvo or its high-end Polestar brand. As such, we could easily imagine the modern P1800 successor – if ever real – would probably make use of a sustainable powertrain.
If not a fully electric one, perhaps at least a plug-in hybrid variant would do the trick. Although, in this crazed automotive world, it wouldn’t be surprising for Volvo or Polestar to come up with a crossover/SUV/truck reinterpretation rather than a traditional passenger car. After all, Ford did the same with the Maverick nameplate and the success is already palpable.
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